Downtown Baseball Stadium

[Highlander]

There will be one measure and one choice. Up or down vote. Teams see what happens. If it fails, there will be talk of Kansas stadiums. Another proposal would then be floated on the Missouri side and a ballot issue. Same deal, up or down vote. If it doesn't pass on the second ballot, Kansas will be in play.

It's because of the Chiefs riding high right now that they won't be separate votes. They won't risk a failed ballot measure. Separate votes will be riskier for the Royals.

Sherman indicating there will be a vote this fall indicates they are building in enough time for a failed vote, and then another measure in the Spring of 2024, and again in the fall of 2024 if there are previous failed votes. The 2024 ballot measure will be for Kansas stadiums.

If the downtown stadium fails, I think the Royals are gone. Nashville will most likely be their next stop. I really doubt if Kansas will check the boxes for the current ownership group. For them it seems to be downtown or bust. That makes it easy for the voters though, many may not like the ideal of an downtown stadium but they will like a downtown stadium in Nashville even less.

https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/na ... usic-city/

[GRID]

Where is the owner from? He seems very pro urban, but would he just take that to a different city? Or KC might go into many years of just not doing anything and the stadium decays like Oakland? But I think the Chiefs are going to force the Royals to do something and that might be either downtown or another city.

Nashville would build exactly what he is wanting, but I just wonder if he would do that to KC.

[kboish]

He is from KC. And all the minority owners are from KC. Part of the reason Glass sold to them is because they are going to keep the Royals here. They aren't going anywhere.

[TheUrbanRoo]

They're not gonna move if the vote fails. They probably are gonna try a second vote too after they launch the threats from the first vote failing.

[KCPowercat]

John Sherman is a big KC guy.

[WoodDraw]

I don't know how many times I have to write that the royals and chiefs are tied together. They have a very strict lease that I literally just posted about.

I guess you can imagine a scenario where they both just draw down their leases and the chiefs move to Kansas with their gambling money and the royals go to Nashville to entertain at bachelorette parties, but in this case we should all just go camping for a few years or find something else to talk about.

[FlippantCitizen]

For a fact John Sherman and several other of the minority owners that I have knowledge of are KC through and through. They built their wealth here, still live locally and I am basically 100% sure they are not interested in moving the team under their continued ownership.

[langosta]

.

[FlippantCitizen]

For a fact John Sherman and several other of the minority owners that I have knowledge of are KC through and through. They built their wealth here, still live locally and I am basically 100% sure they are not interested in moving the team under their continued ownership.

Do they continue to own the team if they can’t build a new stadium?

That's where I'm not 100%

[GRID]

I don't know how many times I have to write that the royals and chiefs are tied together. They have a very strict lease that I literally just posted about.

I guess you can imagine a scenario where they both just draw down their leases and the chiefs move to Kansas with their gambling money and the royals go to Nashville to entertain at bachelorette parties, but in this case we should all just go camping for a few years or find something else to talk about.

So basically nothing is happening till the Chiefs announce a real plan alongside the Royals. And the Chiefs are probably not doing anything till after the world cup.

I wonder if there is a chance they figure something out and release some grand plan prior to the world cup.

The Chiefs ae not leaving the TSC, they are not going to Kansas and that's what is going to keep all this together. But the Chiefs are going to want to do something big. If the Royals build a new downtown stadium and surrounding development, I have a hard time believing the Chiefs will settle for anything less than 150% of whatever the Royals spend/get to build a new stadium. Especially since the bar is now set very high for new NFL stadiums. Arrowhead is basically a college stadium now compared to places like Atlanta, Minneapolis, LA , Vegas etc.

Even smaller cities like Buffalo and Nashville are building 1.5-2.5 billion dollar stadiums. I would think the Chiefs would want something more in line with Nashville because KC is a large enough metro to use the stadium for more non NFL events.

If the Chiefs somehow manage to keep the bowl of Arrowhead, they will basically build a whole new 2 billion dollar stadium around it. Or they will just build a new one. Then the Royals get their downtown park. But that's 2.5 billion minimum for two stadiums in one plan not including surrounding developments. It's going to be a wild ride to get this done that's for sure.

[langosta]

.

[TheUrbanRoo]

I think the Royals will be fine. As much as people don’t act like it, nobody wants to see their hometown baseball team seriously go to another state over a *renewed* tax

[WoodDraw]

A renewed tax is the starting point. There are other ways to ask for government funding

[TheSmokinPun]

They're trying to get big big expansion money from Nashville right now. The Royals aren't even in the top 5 relocation spots. Widely known in baseball how things are looking at shaking out. Feel like this is some basic info that took some simple searching.

[beautyfromashes]

Feel like this is some basic info that took some simple searching.

I sure wish there was a place on the internet where you could type in a question and it would give you all the answers.

[bspecht]

For all those who ask "but where will we tailgate?"
https://twitter.com/MikeBradleyMKE/stat ... 5475889154

[Highlander]

For a fact John Sherman and several other of the minority owners that I have knowledge of are KC through and through. They built their wealth here, still live locally and I am basically 100% sure they are not interested in moving the team under their continued ownership.

Do they continue to own the team if they can’t build a new stadium?

That would be my concern.

I guess I just see a downtown stadium as an incredibly tough uphill battle in a vote. It's not the airport. KCI was won when the intransigent voters finally accepted that the funds were not coming from their tax money. But I don't see that kind of caveat for a downtown stadium - other than it's a continuation of a tax already in place. That may be the only saving grace.

Surely the downtown, crossroads, and most of the west of Troost population in KC will be OK with a downtown stadium. Independence, Blue Springs, and Lees Summit people will be strongly opposed as will much of the poorer parts of town that do not go to many games and will see the ending of the current tax as a windfall. If the vote was larger than just Jackson County, the chance of passing would be much better. Both Clay and Platte counties (especially Platte) would benefit from proximity although there is a significant portion of KC north people that have a disdain for going downtown. NE and West Johnson County would also greatly benefit in terms of proximity but not so much south Johnson County due to access from 435 and the same concerns about going downtown.

[WoodDraw]

I think that’s why they want to keep the stadiums owned by Jackson County and continue the current tax together.

It’s a complicated situation. Honestly the royals probably deserve a bit of public help more than the chiefs, but that’s not how American sports work.

[Cratedigger]

Grabbing a conversation from the Three Light thread. If you were John/Brooks Sherman and were picking a partner to develop and manage the Royals Village who would be on your shortlist?

^GRID
Cordish wasn’t in this market when the P&L deal was made. There are other developers who would be eager to jump into this market with guaranteed demand next to a MLB ballpark and upfront money from the Royals. We have to develop some competition in this town. It is the only thing that will speed up new development.

I totally agree there needs to be more competition. Are you sure Cordish was not part of the original incentives for the towers? I know they were not part of the original plan for the P&L district, but I thought they were always part of the deal for the residential towers part of the project. Anything prior to Cordish were just renderings with nothing backing them up.

But again, yes, KC needs another heavy hitter developer that can put up 25 story buildings. I hope something happens with the tower proposed by Lux Living. It might get the attention of more out of town developers.

[WoodDraw]

Does anyone think it’s going to be anything other than vantrust, umb, and jedunn, with Goldman Sachs advising with a local firm